“Dreams Come True Momma!” A 2 year old’s first trip ~ May 2015~Complete {NEW TR LINK!}

[pkondz]

Neither DH or I can make a decision on the matter one way or the other. Thoughts?

Hmmmm..... My first thought was "Have you talked to her about it." But maybe you don't want to. Like Andy said, you know her best.
I might lean more to no pull ups, but telling her that she can tell you guys anytime she needs to go and you won't mind. And then when she does... don't mind!

until we are ready to forcibly drag ourselves away.

Always a tough one.

I also think that this time I am making DH have some caffeine about 2:30 - 3pm so that at least one of us will be alert enough to drive.

Usually a good idea to be somewhat awake when driving.

 

[ajsary]

Neither DH or I can make a decision on the matter one way or the other. Thoughts?

We have yet to do a super long car trip with our recently potty trained tot. We're in the same boat as you all with our trip coming up. I agree that you know Little Miss best and can decide which works better. You may even try no pull-ups for a bit and change your mind and put them on her for the remaining part of the drive. I know with our DD she would be crushed if we put pull-ups back on her now because she has been so excited to be a big girl and potty trained. We have a couple of the Diono Dry Seat Car Seat Protectors, which will hopefully make clean up easier in the event she does have an accident. I know you have the same car seat as us, so I thought I would mention them. They're like $7 on Amazon and they are super handy.

 

[jandlinz]

You know your daughter best. I know some of my fully trained toddlers would want no part of being put in a pull up. In fact, it may even make us stop more because of how uncomfortable some of them felt in one. If she never has an accident I would bet she would be ok, but if there isn't an exit and she has to go NOW could she make it 5-10 minutes?

 

[Dugette]

So DH and I are on the fence. We can't decide whether or not to keep Little Miss in a pull up for the whole ride down or just while she's asleep. She hasn't had an accident while wake in a super long time (and has only had a hand full of them ever) but she also has a tendency to feel the need to go when bored making me suspect the demand for frequent stops. Neither DH or I can make a decision on the matter one way or the other. Thoughts?

My general rule is to use a pull up only when I think she might fall asleep or will be unable to get to a restroom for an extended period (i.e. - on a plane, if we have a runway delay or something). Of course, she refused a pull up on our last flight and all was fine. For a car trip, I'd probably go without it unless you think she might take a long nap. As long as you stop and have her use the potty every so often, I think you'll be fine. And if you know she's just gone, then requests out of boredom can be ignored with slightly more confidence.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Wow can't believe you're almost going to be at WDW again! One day at MK sounds perfect for Little Miss! And I like how you have plans to do stuff not at the park. I really should do this more often too, but every day we're down there, we have park tix so we don't get to spend time doing the resort stuff.

I love your new dress and the fact that it was so cheap!!! Great deal!

Little Miss's wardrobe rivals my sister's. She's covered for any situation! I love the silver dress for the wedding too! It's so pretty and chic at the same time!

I like the mini golf idea. I hope the weather holds up for you. It did not rain once while we were down there, but there were certain nights it got cold. Our first night it was 42 degrees! We were very chilly that night in MK and it was an experience we weren't used to in Florida, but after that it was really great weather, and the days were sunny and warm with low humidity and the nights were cool but not cold. Definitely hope you get the nice weather pixie dust!!

Not sure if you can park at the Boardwalk if just eating at the bakery. We haven't driven in WDW for a long time!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Tough call. Honestly, you know her best. I'd lean towards just using the pull ups and then if you have to call her bluff on frequent requests to stop you'll be covered. Then again, if you've got her potty trained you don't want to make her revert back by doing that either. I think you'll just have to go with what you feel is best for her situation.

How nice of you.

Well I tried last time to stay awake but that didn't work out so well.

Hmmmm..... My first thought was "Have you talked to her about it." But maybe you don't want to. Like Andy said, you know her best.
I might lean more to no pull ups, but telling her that she can tell you guys anytime she needs to go and you won't mind. And then when she does... don't mind!

Always a tough one.

Usually a good idea to be somewhat awake when driving.

We have yet to do a super long car trip with our recently potty trained tot. We're in the same boat as you all with our trip coming up. I agree that you know Little Miss best and can decide which works better. You may even try no pull-ups for a bit and change your mind and put them on her for the remaining part of the drive. I know with our DD she would be crushed if we put pull-ups back on her now because she has been so excited to be a big girl and potty trained. We have a couple of the Diono Dry Seat Car Seat Protectors, which will hopefully make clean up easier in the event she does have an accident. I know you have the same car seat as us, so I thought I would mention them. They're like $7 on Amazon and they are super handy.

We'll have to look into those protectors. Right now we are leaning toward putting a puppy pad down in case of throw up.

You know your daughter best. I know some of my fully trained toddlers would want no part of being put in a pull up. In fact, it may even make us stop more because of how uncomfortable some of them felt in one.

Lucky you! Unfortunately, Little Miss is far to comfortable in a pull up. Its part of the battle to finish the potty training.

If she never has an accident I would bet she would be ok, but if there isn't an exit and she has to go NOW could she make it 5-10 minutes?

My general rule is to use a pull up only when I think she might fall asleep or will be unable to get to a restroom for an extended period (i.e. - on a plane, if we have a runway delay or something). Of course, she refused a pull up on our last flight and all was fine. For a car trip, I'd probably go without it unless you think she might take a long nap. As long as you stop and have her use the potty every so often, I think you'll be fine. And if you know she's just gone, then requests out of boredom can be ignored with slightly more confidence.

Wow can't believe you're almost going to be at WDW again!

I know!!!

One day at MK sounds perfect for Little Miss! And I like how you have plans to do stuff not at the park. I really should do this more often too, but every day we're down there, we have park tix so we don't get to spend time doing the resort stuff.

With the way things fell for the trip we really only had one full day for the parks. (Even then we are skipping the Rehearsal dinner so we can stay in the park. ) It will be fun discovering the other things.

I love your new dress and the fact that it was so cheap!!! Great deal!

I still can't believe I found it that cheap!

Little Miss's wardrobe rivals my sister's. She's covered for any situation! I love the silver dress for the wedding too! It's so pretty and chic at the same time!

It helps that a large chunk of it still fits from our last trip in May.

I like the mini golf idea. I hope the weather holds up for you. It did not rain once while we were down there, but there were certain nights it got cold. Our first night it was 42 degrees! We were very chilly that night in MK and it was an experience we weren't used to in Florida, but after that it was really great weather, and the days were sunny and warm with low humidity and the nights were cool but not cold. Definitely hope you get the nice weather pixie dust!!

I was getting worried for a bit. For a while our park day jumped to a high of 90! Luckily things have settled into the low to mid 80s

Not sure if you can park at the Boardwalk if just eating at the bakery. We haven't driven in WDW for a long time!

I guess we'll find out on Sunday!!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

After reading through your suggestions I've decided to bring both Panties and a few pull ups and at least try the panties when she wakes up and we stop to get her dressed for the day.

In learning my lesson from last time I have packed a what I'm calling the "Just in case bag". In it I have the 3 back up outfits for the day, 4-6 puppy pads, 2 rolls of paper towels, large thing of baby wipes, 4 water bottles for rinsing things off with and 4 trash bags. This will sit in the back seat where it can be quick accessed if we end up having to stop for sickness or potty issues. We will also be lining Little Miss's car seat with a puppy pad to cut down on the amount of clean up in case of...issues.

DH also recently got a cheap set of Garment Bags so that we can better protect the wedding and brunch outfits that need to hang. I ended up with an extra garment bag and decided that since we are going to try to put all three of us into the same suitcases I would be nice and save DH's clothes from the glitter bomb that happens when you shove a bunch of princess dresses in a suitcase. They are now safely packed in their own garment bag. I just have to figure out how to back Little MIss's crowns that are easily bendable. I can't throw them in the open suitcase because that will clue her in. I'm considering just tossing them in the bottom of the garment bag. Suggestions?

The only thing that seems to be missing is the set of reusable grocery bags that I pulled out and set in a "safe place" so that they wouldn't get lost during the move and I would have them ready for the trip. I've made due, its just annoying at this point. I'm sure they will turn up in about 2 or three weeks.



Audio Books, Radio Theater and other in car entertainment options….



I am struggling on what to pick for our trip to listen too. I’ve had the Focus on the Family radio theater versions of the Chronicles of Narnia on my radar but I have been warned that the scene where *Spoiler Alert* Alsan is murdered may be too scary and intense for Little Miss.


From there I thought to look into Adventures in Odyssey but they too come with an 8 and Up warning. I tried picking up a set last week and they more filled with Family drama (in a bad way) than I remembered. I think I’ve ruled that out.


On a Past trip I played Focus on the Family’s Radio Theater of Anne of Green Gables (a favorite story of mine from my childhood) and we all mostly enjoyed it. (DH humored me because I was doing most of the driving that trip. )


Anybody have recommendations or ideas on this front? If I can’t find anything I may just try the Narnia Theater and see how things go.


As for when Little Miss is resting, DH has assured me that I should be able to stream YouTube videos on my phone. So I have created a playlist with the walking with Walt series from the Dis Unplugged. That will give me about 8 hours worth.

As far as movies go, DH is in the process of loading up 2 tablets as much as he can with movies. He currently has 8 movies on the larger tablet and still has the smaller tablet to go. ​

 

[afwdwfan]

In learning my lesson from last time I have packed a what I'm calling the "Just in case bag". In it I have the 3 back up outfits for the day, 4-6 puppy pads, 2 rolls of paper towels, large thing of baby wipes, 4 water bottles for rinsing things off with and 4 trash bags. This will sit in the back seat where it can be quick accessed if we end up having to stop for sickness or potty issues. We will also be lining Little Miss's car seat with a puppy pad to cut down on the amount of clean up in case of...issues.

Good idea! Better to be prepared and not need it than to need it and not have it.

DH also recently got a cheap set of Garment Bags so that we can better protect the wedding and brunch outfits that need to hang. I ended up with an extra garment bag and decided that since we are going to try to put all three of us into the same suitcases I would be nice and save DH's clothes from the glitter bomb that happens when you shove a bunch of princess dresses in a suitcase.

It's impossible. I had DD's dresses in a garment bag, that was then double bagged inside a garbage bag to catch any stray glitter... Yet that crap still managed to escape!

Audio Books, Radio Theater and other in car entertainment options….

Good luck! I really can't say much about the audiobooks you're considering, but it seems like you've got some good options to consider for the drive.

 

[jandlinz]

Sounds like you have a plan. I have some suggestions for audio books.
For DD:
Roald Dahl collection. You can also do Matilda and The BFG.
Berenstain Bears' Stories (age appropriate for your DD)
The Mouse and the Motorcyle (my boys love)
Magic Treehouse Books
The Indian in the Cupboard
Wayside School Collection
The House at Pooh Corner (age appropriate for your DD)

For You and DD:
The Secret Garden
Ballet Shoes
Little Women
The Little Princess

For You and DH: I picked some tame ones.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Treasure Island
A Wrinkle in Time
The Tale of Despereaux

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Something else I forgot to mention in the main update. Yesterday DH and I decided to not adjust Little Miss to the new time change till after we get back. While yes this means that we have to let her go to bed an hour later than normal, with so many late nights planned in our trip having her used to staying up till "10:30pm" will go a long way in making our plans successful. Of course it's also sinking in just how brutal that goal of getting on the road at 4am is. We'll see if we actually pull it off.

Good idea! Better to be prepared and not need it than to need it and not have it.

It's impossible. I had DD's dresses in a garment bag, that was then double bagged inside a garbage bag to catch any stray glitter... Yet that crap still managed to escape!

Better than me packing them straight on top of his clothes! Lol!

Good luck! I really can't say much about the audiobooks you're considering, but it seems like you've got some good options to consider for the drive.

We'll see.

Sounds like you have a plan. I have some suggestions for audio books.
For DD:
Roald Dahl collection. You can also do Matilda and The BFG.
Berenstain Bears' Stories (age appropriate for your DD)
The Mouse and the Motorcyle (my boys love)
Magic Treehouse Books
The Indian in the Cupboard
Wayside School Collection
The House at Pooh Corner (age appropriate for your DD)

In going on youtube to hunt for things to add to the playlists I ended up coming across this:

Did you know that Disney was making this?!?

For You and DD:
The Secret Garden
Ballet Shoes
Little Women
The Little Princess

For You and DH: I picked some tame ones.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Treasure Island
A Wrinkle in Time
The Tale of Despereaux

​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

First, to your comment about clothes for you husband ... I hate paying a lot for clothes and get most of mine at Khols ... stuff goes on sale all the time and you can get 30% coupons for on top of that. Get all my work clothes there and they have even dressier stuff. I usually never pay more thank like $22 for pants and like $14 for dress shirts

On last comment - saw you have the Walking with Walt series on Youtube Playlist. Those are amazing, but just so you know they are audio only and you can just get them via the podcasts that will download, take up less memory, and you don't need to worry about having a data connection

 

[Gracefulskinny]

First, to your comment about clothes for you husband ... I hate paying a lot for clothes and get most of mine at Khols ... stuff goes on sale all the time and you can get 30% coupons for on top of that. Get all my work clothes there and they have even dressier stuff. I usually never pay more thank like $22 for pants and like $14 for dress shirts

Yeah Kohl's was one of the first places we tried. Luckily we've found a pair that will work.

On last comment - saw you have the Walking with Walt series on Youtube Playlist. Those are amazing, but just so you know they are audio only and you can just get them via the podcasts that will download, take up less memory, and you don't need to worry about having a data connection

We have android phones so the downloading from itunes on to our phones is quite the hassle. Plus with unlimited data data useage isn't an issue. We thought about trying to look for another method but with our to do lists where they are we've just decided to go with the path of least resistance with this one.

 

[pkondz]

After reading through your suggestions I've decided to bring both Panties and a few pull ups and at least try the panties when she wakes up and we stop to get her dressed for the day.

Sounds like a good compromise.

In learning my lesson from last time I have packed a what I'm calling the "Just in case bag". In it I have the 3 back up outfits for the day, 4-6 puppy pads, 2 rolls of paper towels, large thing of baby wipes, 4 water bottles for rinsing things off with and 4 trash bags. This will sit in the back seat where it can be quick accessed if we end up having to stop for sickness or potty issues.

You need a button.
You know. The one that makes a whooping sound and flashes a red light.
It would make the cinematography of an "incident" a lot more dramatic.

and decided that since we are going to try to put all three of us into the same suitcases

We've had this discussion already...

I would be nice and save DH's clothes from the glitter bomb that happens when you shove a bunch of princess dresses in a suitcase.

I'm considering just tossing them in the bottom of the garment bag. Suggestions?

That's not a bad idea, actually.
1. just make sure the garment bags are on top of your stuff.
2. since there's room at the bottom, maybe pack them in paper towels inside a shoe box or something?

The only thing that seems to be missing is the set of reusable grocery bags that I pulled out and set in a "safe place" so that they wouldn't get lost during the move and I would have them ready for the trip. I've made due, its just annoying at this point. I'm sure they will turn up in about 2 or three weeks.

Anybody have recommendations or ideas on this front? If I can’t find anything I may just try the Narnia Theater and see how things go.

Got nothing. sorry.

Something else I forgot to mention in the main update. Yesterday DH and I decided to not adjust Little Miss to the new time change till after we get back. While yes this means that we have to let her go to bed an hour later than normal, with so many late nights planned in our trip having her used to staying up till "10:30pm" will go a long way in making our plans successful.

Smart.

Of course it's also sinking in just how brutal that goal of getting on the road at 4am is. We'll see if we actually pull it off.

Ouch. Yeah, that'll make it tougher.

Did you know that Disney was making this?!?

I don't even know what that is, but I like the trailer.
But all I can think of is BFG stands for Big Fu.. uh... let's say "funny" Guy.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

You need a button.
You know. The one that makes a whooping sound and flashes a red light.
It would make the cinematography of an "incident" a lot more dramatic.

I think I'll pass. Those moments tend to be stressful enough thank you.

We've had this discussion already...

That's not a bad idea, actually.
1. just make sure the garment bags are on top of your stuff.
2. since there's room at the bottom, maybe pack them in paper towels inside a shoe box or something?

Hey Great idea! A shoe box should work well!

Ouch. Yeah, that'll make it tougher.

My neighbor who just got back from Disney Sunday night says they left at 5:30 and there was no traffic and they made it all the way through metro atlanta to macon in an hour. DH and I are convinced they are just speed demons who ended up with a large heap of luck. Back in May it took us closer to 2 hours to get to Macon and we lived 20 minutes closer. She also reported that it only took them 8 hours with 3 stops. I hope our timing is closer to that then the planned 10.

I don't even know what that is, but I like the trailer.
But all I can think of is BFG stands for Big Fu.. uh... let's say "funny" Guy.

The BFG is a classic kids book by Ronald Dahl. BFG stands for Big FRIENDLY Giant.

 

[pkondz]

Hey Great idea! A shoe box should work well!

This ain't my first rodeo.

My neighbor who just got back from Disney Sunday night says they left at 5:30 and there was no traffic and they made it all the way through metro atlanta to macon in an hour. DH and I are convinced they are just speed demons who ended up with a large heap of luck. Back in May it took us closer to 2 hours to get to Macon and we lived 20 minutes closer. She also reported that it only took them 8 hours with 3 stops. I hope our timing is closer to that then the planned 10.

Well now it's a competition. You have to do better now.

The BFG is a classic kids book by Ronald Dahl.

I was so close.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

This ain't my first rodeo.

Well now it's a competition. You have to do better now.

We'll see I guess. It also helps that I've got layers of entertainment locked in. That will help the time pass better.

I was so close.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The Theme Song for the day:

Not too much left to do today.

DH and I have to finish the last of our packing (or in DH's case START!),
I need to do some touch up repairs to the stroller locator,
I need to wrap the wedding gift and the magic bands, {*Can't do around Little Miss*}
I need to finish up the laundry
Start gathering the toiletries,
Pre order lunch for friday {*Can't do around Little Miss*}
get the kitchen clean so we aren't coming home to a dirty house,
load the car (we'll see if DH can beat his 45 min. record from last time..),
put together the mini planner with the small itineraries {*Can't do around Little Miss*}
Write a letter to go with the surprise welcome gift from "mickey and friends" {*Can't do around Little Miss*}
Gather up and make sure I HAVE all the pieces to said welcome gift. {*Can't do around Little Miss*}


On second thought writing out this list was a good thing to do. That's a lot to do especially considering how many tasks can't be done around Little Miss without giving away the surprise. Lets also not forget the need to get to sleep early so that we can wake up before the crack of dawn. ​

 

[jandlinz]

Hope you have a great time. Can't wait to hear her reaction!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Impressing myself with how much of the list I'm getting through this morning. I'm over half done already.

Checked the weather and it looks pretty nice. The high 80's and the 90 that had creeped in a few days ago has made way for lower temps and beisdes some rain in the forcast it looks to be some pretty nice weather:


17

A thunderstorm in spots
86° Lo 67°


18

A thunderstorm in spots
82° Lo 67°


19

Couple of thunderstorms
80° Lo 63°


20

Some sun with a stray shower
76° Lo 52°



21

Partly sunny and comfortable
71° Lo 50°

 

[NJlauren]

You leave tomorrow!!!!!

So exciting can't wait to hear about the surprise and how it's goes!

Have an amazing trip!